After a week of NBA there are a few things I see that might make or save some money. All this is contingent on injuries which can change any team overnight. The biggest surprise for me so far has been Sea. You had better take them serious because they remind me of last year's Det team. No real super stars but a bunch of guys that are willing to work their tails off every night to win. Here's who I think (in the west) will get better than what we've already seen. Most of it has to do with coaching over talent.
Who gets better? Sea (the more they win, the more confidence they will get in what they are doing). Mem (last night you saw what they are capable of and I think they spent too much time reading how good they were going to be. I think they now realize that nobody is going to give them anything including the refs). LAC (this team has more talent than people realize and a coach that knows how to win. As long as they stay in the east they will do just fine). Minn (can't say they don't have talent and coaching. Here again I think they spent too much time reading their press clippings). Utah (as good as they've been until last night they can and will improve. Young teams that have been winning as easily as Utah have a tendency to take a team like Tor lightly. Sloan will make sure they remember what happened to them last night). Den (this has to be the unluckiest team in the NBA so far this season. First of all everybody (I'm not talking about the team) seemed to be reading and believing the hype. First of all they have to open with LA in LA on national tv. If you know anything at all about the NBA you know that LA was going to get every chance in the world to win. Then they run right into two of the three hottest teams in the west with Utah twice and Sea once. That's their 4 loses. But how about them beating Minn, the pre-season pick to win it all. Things should start getting a little easier now) I probably should put GS and NO in this group. They sure as hell can't get any worse, or can they? Maybe some of the eastern conference teams can make them look good.
SA and Dal will keep winning. What I saw out of Phoe last night scares the heck out of me. Not that they blew an 18 point second half lead and cost me my only loss of the night (shit happens) but how they did it. I guarantee every NBA team will go to school on it. When Cle got physical, Phoe came apart big-time. Of course the refs let Cle get away with murder while calling charging fouls inside the circle on Phoe but if Phoe had put up any fight at all they would still have won that game. Look for everyone to get physical with Phoe until they prove they can take it.
Who will get worse? I don't see anything good happening for these teams until something happens. And it's not the coaching. As I said a week ago, Sac has serious problems. Their super-star has to get his 20 + shots a night while shooting under 33% so far. As I said last year after Webber came back, Stojakovic isn't getting the ball on time. That means he's having to work harder to get a shot that could have been better. That and the fact that he's not a happy camper is the reason his numbers are down. Pay attention to the looks on their faces when they are down and you might pick up on what I'm trying to say. If you think last year in LA was bad you might not have seen anything yet. With every loss Kobe is getting more frustrated with his team mates. What's going to happen when they get frustrated with him? If they are behind Kobe starts firing every shot. This is becoming more evident every game. Stop Kobe and you stop LA because he's not going to quit shooting. He needs his team more to come from behind than he does when they are ahead but like a lot of other superstars, he hasn't learned that yet.
Well, that's my take on what I've seen the first week of this NBA season. There's one thing about doing a write-up. If you are wrong you sound dumber than a can of fishing worms but if you're right, you sound like you know a hell of a lot more than you really do.
Be back with something on tonight's games.
Who gets better? Sea (the more they win, the more confidence they will get in what they are doing). Mem (last night you saw what they are capable of and I think they spent too much time reading how good they were going to be. I think they now realize that nobody is going to give them anything including the refs). LAC (this team has more talent than people realize and a coach that knows how to win. As long as they stay in the east they will do just fine). Minn (can't say they don't have talent and coaching. Here again I think they spent too much time reading their press clippings). Utah (as good as they've been until last night they can and will improve. Young teams that have been winning as easily as Utah have a tendency to take a team like Tor lightly. Sloan will make sure they remember what happened to them last night). Den (this has to be the unluckiest team in the NBA so far this season. First of all everybody (I'm not talking about the team) seemed to be reading and believing the hype. First of all they have to open with LA in LA on national tv. If you know anything at all about the NBA you know that LA was going to get every chance in the world to win. Then they run right into two of the three hottest teams in the west with Utah twice and Sea once. That's their 4 loses. But how about them beating Minn, the pre-season pick to win it all. Things should start getting a little easier now) I probably should put GS and NO in this group. They sure as hell can't get any worse, or can they? Maybe some of the eastern conference teams can make them look good.
SA and Dal will keep winning. What I saw out of Phoe last night scares the heck out of me. Not that they blew an 18 point second half lead and cost me my only loss of the night (shit happens) but how they did it. I guarantee every NBA team will go to school on it. When Cle got physical, Phoe came apart big-time. Of course the refs let Cle get away with murder while calling charging fouls inside the circle on Phoe but if Phoe had put up any fight at all they would still have won that game. Look for everyone to get physical with Phoe until they prove they can take it.
Who will get worse? I don't see anything good happening for these teams until something happens. And it's not the coaching. As I said a week ago, Sac has serious problems. Their super-star has to get his 20 + shots a night while shooting under 33% so far. As I said last year after Webber came back, Stojakovic isn't getting the ball on time. That means he's having to work harder to get a shot that could have been better. That and the fact that he's not a happy camper is the reason his numbers are down. Pay attention to the looks on their faces when they are down and you might pick up on what I'm trying to say. If you think last year in LA was bad you might not have seen anything yet. With every loss Kobe is getting more frustrated with his team mates. What's going to happen when they get frustrated with him? If they are behind Kobe starts firing every shot. This is becoming more evident every game. Stop Kobe and you stop LA because he's not going to quit shooting. He needs his team more to come from behind than he does when they are ahead but like a lot of other superstars, he hasn't learned that yet.
Well, that's my take on what I've seen the first week of this NBA season. There's one thing about doing a write-up. If you are wrong you sound dumber than a can of fishing worms but if you're right, you sound like you know a hell of a lot more than you really do.
Be back with something on tonight's games.
